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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report with MinutesJune 17, 2004 ITEM NO.: 14.1 FILE NO.: LU04-07-01 Name: Land Use Plan Amendment - 1-30 Planning District Location: South of Roosevelt either side of Confederate Boulevard Reguest: Industrial and Service Trades to Mixed Use Source: Granite Mountain —Audubon Working Group PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Land Use Plan Amendment in the 1-30 Planning District from Industrial and Service Trades to Mixed Use. The Mixed Use category provides for a mixture of residential, office and commercial uses to occur. A Planned Zoning District is required if the use is entirely office or commercial or if the use is a mixture of the three. The applicant wishes to encourage retail, office and residential uses in this area. EXISTING LAND USE AND ZONING: The property is currently zoned 1-2 Light Industrial and is approximately 23 acres in size. The property to the north is zoned R-3 Single Family, R-4 Two Family and C-3 General Commercial for a cemetery, school and shopping center respectively. The property to the west and east is zoned 1-2 Light Industrial with various warehouse and distribution uses located there, in addition to some vacant land. The property to the south is zoned R-3 Single Family and is floodway and floodplain of the Fourche Creek. FUTURE LAND USE PLAN AND RECENT AMENDMENTS: LU03-07-03: A Planned Use Plan Amendment from Mixed Use and Light Industrial to Service Trades District west of Confederate Boulevard and Industrial to Light Industrial to the east of Confederate. This change made in 2003, was the result of the East of 1-30 Study. L000-24-01: A Land Use Plan to Multifamily, Public, Mixed Use, and Single Family from Public, Commercial and Mining. These changes were either side of Springer Avenue east of Gillam Park Road. This change made in 2001, was to reflect changes in use that had occurred over the previous few years. LU99-07-01: A Land Use Plan to Mixed Use and Light Industrial from Industrial for an area east of Confederate Boulevard south of Roosevelt Road. This June 17, 2004 ITEM NO.: 14.1 (Cont.) FILE NO.: LU04-07-01_ change made in 2001, was an expansion of a request that had been made in order to rebuild a home after a fire on Welch Street. The application area is shown as Light Industrial or Service Trades on the Future Land Use Plan. The property to the north is shown as Commercial and Public Institutional. The property to the east is shown as Light Industrial. The property to the west is shown as Service Trades. The property to the south is shown as Park Open Space. MASTER STREET PLAN: Confederate Boulevard and Roosevelt Road are both classified as Minor Arterial Streets. Confederate Boulevard is not built to standard, additional right-of-way and street widening will be required. There are no bikeways affected by this amendment. PARKS: The Little Rock Parks and Recreation Master Plan of 2001 shows with the inclusion of school recreation facilities and the proposed "Earth Trail" along Fourche Creek, this area is within the 8 -block recreational zone. Approval of the amendment will place residential uses in this area. HISTORIC DISTRICTS: The application area is not located in a Historic District. CITY RECOGNIZED NEIGHBORHOOD ACTION PLAN: The application area lies in the area not covered by a City recognized Neighborhood Plan. ANALYSIS: The area in question was zoned to Industrial in 1976. The bulk of the area had been 'B' zoning, which was one of Little Rock's residential zoning at the time. A large amount of 'C' zoning was located along Confederate and south of 28th Street. 'C' zoning was, two-family zoning. The existing use of the area at the time was primarily single family and two-family. The current use remains predominately single family and two-family. It should be noted that the Little Rock Zoning Ordinance of that time was a 'pyramid' system. That is single family was on top, and then the next category added uses and so on. So that one only added to the permitted uses never lost a use, as the current zoning requires. 2 June 17, 2004 ITEM NO.: 14.1 Cont. FILE NO.: LU04-07-01 The use pattern has not changed greatly in the almost three decades since the zoning of the area to industrial. In 1999, there was a request to rebuild a home on Welch Street. Since the zoning was 1-2, Light Industrial, the property owner was told they could not have a permit to rebuild their home after a fire. An application was then filed to rezone their lot to R-2, Single Family. A Land Use Plan amendment was also filed. Since the area had a mix of non-residential uses in a predominately residential area, Mixed Use was recommended for this area. Based on the existing use pattern and the desire to allow individuals to rebuild their homes, the Land Use Plan was changed to Mixed Use for this area in 1999. However the zoning remained 1-2, Light Industrial, except for one lot that was reclassified to R-2 Single Family. The review of this area in 2002 as part of the East of 1-30 Study was part of a larger effort, which looked at everything within the boundary of Interstate 30, the Fourche Creek and the Arkansas River. That review was therefore general. As for the Land Use Plan, the dominant use of the area north of Interstate 440 from Interstate 30 to the Airport was seen as industrial or support to industrial. This was based on both the existing land use and zoning pattern of the area. Due to the School and lack of need for truly industrial use areas, the East of 1-30 Study envisioned the area west of Confederate and south of Roosevelt as a more support use area to the industrial and other uses in the vicinity. The Service Trades District is meant for this type of use, office and support businesses to industrial and heavy commercial uses. The zoning was not changed but remained 1-2, Light Industrial with one lot of R-2, Single Family. Audubon Arkansas working with others decided to locate to the former Booker Homes site about this same time. The Audubon group intends to make a major investment in the area and bring new groups into this section of Little Rock. They would like to see environmentally and pedestrian friendly development, which uses nontraditional modes of transportation (walking and biking). Further Audubon Arkansas sees Confederate Boulevard as the front door to their development. It is their belief that as a result of the new use and activity they will generate in Granite Mountain, that property owners along Confederate Boulevard will want to reinvest to take advantage of this activity. While they welcome this, Audubon Arkansas wants to assure that new development is in keeping with the spirit they will set. To this end Audubon Arkansas along with input from a working group have developed an Overlay and this Land Use Plan amendment. 3 June 17, 2004 ITEM NO.: 14.1 (Cont.) FILE NO.: LU04-07.01 The intent of the amendment is to encourage both retail and residential in this area. This use pattern would be supportive not only to the Audubon project but also to the other neighboring intense uses. Further it is hoped that this change would encourage the existing homeowners to maintain their homes with out the concern that residential was not permitted in the vicinity. NEIGHBORHOOD COMMENTS: Notices were sent to the following neighborhood associations: Granite Mountain Neighborhood Association and the Community Outreach Neighborhood Organization. The letter notifying property owners of the Overlay included information about this proposed Land Use Plan Amendment. Staff has received one comment from area residents. STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Approval PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION: (JUNE 17, 2004) The item was placed on Consent Agenda for approval. By a vote of 9 for, 0 against and 2 absent, the item was approved. 4